The popular pulse
Joseph Muscat thinks he is in touch with the electorate, but he is not.
The ability to keep your finger on the pulse, to be in touch with the Zeitgeist, is a rare one. It takes much more than listening to grouching and complaints.
In his hasty release of a statement condemning the prime minister for his stance on the judicial decision that Chris Said should be prosecuted for perjury, Muscat shows that he has no natural instinct for the popular pulse.
All people of goodwill and basic commonsense will have looked at Dr Said’s crime – getting confused as to whether something happened in the afternoon or the evening – and wonder exactly when it was that the lunatics took over the running of the asylum.
When it comes to this one, who cares whether you vote Labour or Nationalist? The facts are what they are, and they are deeply disturbing.
The usual elves on timesofmalta.com have changed their stuck-record tune. They, too, are shocked – and not at Chris Said’s ghastly crime of mistaking the occurrence of something totally irrelevant to the case by a few hours.
They are shocked for the very reasons which I pointed out earlier: the ordinary person understands that if not even a member of government is safe from such grave injustice, then those on the bottom rung are more vulnerable still.
For perjury to take place, one must not only lie under oath, but lie in such a way that it affects the outcome of the case.
Chris Said didn’t lie – why would he have lied about whether a decision was taken in the afternoon or the evening? He made a mistake because time had passed and he no longer had the file, his client having gone to another lawyer.
And in any case, what he said had absolutely no affect at all on the outcome of the proceedings.
Former Labour MP and present Joseph Muscat acolyte Joe Grima had the guts to comment on timesofmalta.com, making far more sense than the leader of his party.
Joe Grima
Chris Said and I come from opposite sides of the political divide but I get a nauseating feeling that today, the dark side of politics has just had a field day. It seems to me that hidden hands, now rubbing each other with glee, have managed to strike down a promising politician in his prime, with a great future in front of him. If this is the case, it could have come from atrophied deadweights, whose sell-by-date would have been up for decades and who know that the future belongs to a cadre of newbie politicians, in both major parties., so unlike them, who will effortlessly send the dinosaurs to their burial grounds. I went through the same pains at the very beginning of my political career. As soon as I was elected, my Prime Minsiter took me under his wing, gave me an office in Castille and roped me in with him. That marked the beginning of a war of lies and consipracies. which Mintoff dealt with either with ear plugs or by having me confront my accusers in his presence. Many times I wept alone. So will Chris Said. I know the feeling. Chris has my full solidarity.
Joe Grima’s companion, Lynne Zahra, commented on the matter, too.
Lynne Zahra
If the Courts had to ask the police to charge the huge number of people
who are plainly liying to the same court on oath when testifying on serious matters.
their workload would rise ten-fold. The question is : Why has such a minor case come to this?
It”s a shame that here the law is aiding some who seems bent on being vindictive .
It’s tragic that if one files an appeal which the court considers frivolous one can get slapped with a huge penalty whereas where one files a case which is out of proportion to any injury received, as appears to be the case here, one finds that the law is on his side! Unbelievable but true!
I’m sorry but the challenge appears frivolous to me and I am surprised the judge did not throw out the complaint immediately. The challenge seems to have been filed as a vendettta and to marr Chris Said’s career and not to gain any advantage, such as custody of the child in question.
How truly irreprehensible !
Joseph Muscat’s failure to predict the sentiment with which the news would be received was so spectacular that he has missed even the reactions of his own supporters by a clear mile. The party’s director of communications, Kurt Farrugia, should print out the comments being left on timesofmalta.com and persuade his boss to read them.
Here’s the prolific pro-Labour commenter, Charles J. Buttigieg, for one (good for you, Mr Buttigieg).
Charles J. Buttigieg
I had never supported Chris Said or his Political Party but I have no problem to give him my full solidarity this time and strongly condemn our judiciary system for being so ultra pedantic and fundamental.
Some two years ago, during a court hearing, Dr. Said was questioned about a particular case and he declared that the court had awarded temporary custody to a child during an evening sitting in January 2007.
Subsequently the child’s father filed legal proceedings against Dr Said, arguing that what he said was not true as the court had decided in the afternoon in camera, before the evening sitting and not during the evening sitting. And for that obvious slip of memory which caused harm to no one our blind justice will be terminating the political career of an honest politician.
I stand four square with this man and hope that he will be reinstated to his political office soon. Good Luck Dr. Said.
This dreadful business has had the effect of uniting people in their dismay across the political divide. Here are Peter Darmanin, a Nationalist Party official, and Charles J. Buttigieg, a fervent Labour supporter.
Peter Darmanin
I stand foursquare with Dr Chris Said. I vouch for his honesty, sincerity and integrity. Good luck Chris. “Is-sewwa jirbah zgur”.
Charles J. Buttigieg
For once in my life I agree with Peter. Good Luck Chris may God stay with you to prove your innocence. Personally I am already convinced.
And here is the Labour Party’s Joe Mifsud (formerly ‘il-gurnalista’, now a lawyer) who used to work for KullHadd.
Dr Joe Mifsud
Ilni naf lil Chris Said ghal dawn l-ahhar snin ferm qabel beda jservi f’karigi pubblici. Dejjem sibtu gentlom, jargumenta bis-sens anke meta ma jaqbilx mieghek. Filwaqt li jkompli juri li hu ragel fuq l-irgiel bl-azzjoni li ghamel illum, il-pajjiz tilef wiehed mill-aqwa persuni li hemm fil-gvern. Nawgura lil Chris li f’qasir zmien issir gustizzja mieghu, jitnaddaf ismu u jirritorna malajr fit-tmexxija. Kuragg Chris.
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The party’s director of communications should read those comments himself.
Unless the statement was issued over his head – quite literally, in his case – one can only conclude that he agrees with its content.
As I have already observed, Joey has put his hairline fractured lower limb into this one right up to his inguinal ligament.
That he is a political peasant is common knowledge. That he does not even have advisers worth their salt is a gross embarrassment.
This is very worrying for Malta’s political future.
Clearly Joseph cannot get one right. In his haste to attack the Prime Minister on any pretext, he has lost a golden opportunity to earn himself some points by showing solidarity with a highly respected Member of Parliament who has displayed much dignity in a difficult moment.
Prosit ghan-nies hawn fuq imsemmija tas-solidarjeta li qed turu ma Chris Said.
Specjalment ghal dawk ta’ fehma politika differenti, il-fatt li ktibtu dan b’kuragg u ghax temmnu f’li tghidu, tigbdu hafna ammirazzjoni lejkom, inkluza tieghi.
Wara dak il-moqzizati li qrajt fuq dan il-blogg dan l-ahhar minn certu nies ta’ certu klassi (baxxa), dejjem emmint, u hekk nibqa nemmen, li nies decenti u ta’ stoffa ghad hawn fiz-zewg partiti.
Wiehed jittama li nies bhalkom, b’li tghidu, temmnu u taghmlu, tkunu ta’ ezempju ghal dawk li ghad xi darba iridu jirraprezentawna.
By resigning immediately Chris Said has gained the moral high ground so that even his political adversaries (except The Leader) are expressing their solidarity. This is not the end of his political career: the case will be laughed out of court and the incident will make him more popular since people will identify with him as a victim of a mindless bureaucratic system.
Problem is that Said is not a victim of the “mindless bureaucratic system”. Moreover, the “judiciary” (sic) system (see Charles J. Buttigieg’s comment) is only indirectly responsible for this case. Is it at all possible for the courts to refuse such a case on the grounds of frivolity?
This is what happens when your party leads you by the nose, Mrs. Justyne Caruana.
It depends on which Zeitgeist, for there is Zeitgeist and there is Zajtgajt. By your own measure, one needs to be in touch with Zajtgajst to get to the Zajtgajst. And he is. The bigger the Zajtgajst the fatter the chances. Good luck to him, I say.
There are also the comments of Dr Alex Sciberras, former Labour mayor of Msida. An up-and-coming lawyer, son of Dr. Philip Sciberras, retired judge and former Labour MP.
Very very refreshing to see people from Labour showing their solidarity with Chris. I salute them.
Maybe there’s a glimmer of hope for this country after all!
Chris will come back stronger than before.
Faux pas. Should their reaction have been any different if the standards of decent behaviour are the same for all? Or is that a tacit admission that you expect the worst from Labour and are pleased to be proved wrong on occasion?
Shame on you, Justyne Caruana.
My dictionary defines “evening” as “the end of the day and early part of the night”. There is no real time affixed to the beginning of the evening, obviously because some days are longer than others.
Considering the case had been heard in January 2007, Dr Said may have left the courts at 17h00 or later, at which time the sun is setting in Gozo in January and night sets in. The perceived time for him would have been “evening”, while the factual time would have been considered “afternoon” on any summer day.
He did not lie. It was getting dark or perhaps already dark, hence “evening”.
Welcome to the Cuba of the Mediterranean.
What detail was so important and not found on file that Dr Said had to be summoned to give evidence in 2007 when he was no longer involved?
To most people, replying off the cuff, ‘filghaxija’ could quite innocently mean late afternoon as well as evening. And bearing in mind that most court sittings are held in the mornings, by ‘filghaxija’ that’s what even people familiar with court procedures mean, that it was exceptionally a ‘filghaxija’ sitting and not a morning one.
And as already pointed out, this was clearly a case of mistaken recollection in the absence of file notes and not an intentional attempt to divert the course of justice.
To me its a clear case of vendetta seeking and our overloaded Courts should never have been burdened with this appeal unless the lawyer/s involved were happy to reap in more fees while appeasing their client at the cost of ridiculing our justice system.
I am no fan of Dr Said but do believe that this storm in a teacup will ultimately do him more good than harm.
The unfortunate truth about this whole issue is that New Labour has recruited a bunch of brainwashed youths who lack insight and perspective. I can truly say that many Labourites are disgusted at the way Chris Said was treated by the courts. Besides, they also know that this will develop into a strong plus for him and for the PM.
What does Marisa Micallef actually do at Mile End?
I have never had great faith in our judiciary system but now
Inzid ukoll li ma nistax nifhem kif il-qorti laghbet b’din it-tarbija ta’ tlett gimghat qisa ‘jojo’. Ma nafx kif ma tawx it-tarbija f’idejn xi hadd kompetenti, sakemm instemet il-kawza.
Wara kollox l-omm dejjem tirbah il-kustodja ta’ tfal minuri, u jekk fuq kollox kella postnatal depression zgur li decizjoni ta’ l-ewwel qorti ma ghenitx biex din l-omm tfieq!
Jidirli il-qorti naqset hafna f’dan ir-rigward.